What a day

I was really pumped by the first really tough climbs on the Tour today. Afterward, I couldn't help but jump on the bike. I grabbed my bag, tossed in some extra clothes for work and went cruising around the hood. It was great. At first I was back on the neighborhood roads. I was seeing more bikes out than cars. But after a while I went uptown so i could ride around some cars. There's something about riding around vehicles that just makes me want to go faster. I don't know if it's because I feel like I need to stay out of their way or if I just want to show how fast I can go. I always kick it up without thinking when cars are around. But traffic was really light and I pretty much had a whole lane to myself today.

I rode past my old place uptown and then swung up to a cemetery. I did about one or two laps before it started sprinkling. I looked at my watch and figured I didn't need to start heading toward work for another 5 minutes. I was hoping the rain wasn't going to be that strong. I was very wrong. It started pouring! I was soaked within 2 minutes. By that point it was pretty pointless to rush to work so I just took my time and was careful not to crash. People were giving me some pretty strange looks but I just laughed. It actually felt really good, I was cooled off in a flash.

Luckily, I had a whole set of clothes in my bag. I rolled into work just about the time Tom rode in. He had a rain jacket on but was pretty well drenched. We walked into the building, making loud squishing sounds with every step. My clothes in my bag had stayed pretty dry. I changed in the bathroom. I took a roll of paper towels back with me and crammed my shoes with wad after wad. This was a tip the guy at the next desk suggested. He's always out biking or running and has been caught in the rain a good bit. For the record, the tip worked pretty well.

It had dried up outside by the time I rode home after work. Tom and I talked more about the Tour on the ride home and about how wide open and crazy it has been this year. Then I got home, grabbed a rag and wiped down my bike chain. Got to take care of my baby. I plan to ride Silver over to the bike shop tomorrow so they can adjust my brakes. They're squeaking really loudly these days and had actually been rubbing the rims they were so tight. I thought about adjusting them myself but remembered I have free lifetime adjustments at the shop since I bought my bike there. Might as well have the pros do it, right? I've been thinking about taking some bike maintenance classes. I know a lot of basic stuff, thanks to Lennard Zinn, but it'd be cool to learn some more complicated things. Then maybe I can build a single speed and join Luke on some one gear rides.